[realtek] network drops out

[Kris Thielemans]

Dear all,

I've a RealTek 8139 in my new SuSE 7.3 system. I experience the following
problem:

occasionally the network connection drops out (and stays out for at least a
day, I never tried to wait longer). With this I mean that even ping to the
router (using the IP number) does not work anymore. Network connection
reappears after rebooting, but also when I simply execute the following
commands (as root):

ifconfig eth0 down
ifconfig eth0 172.16.20.2 broadcast 172.16.255.255 netmask 255.255.0.0
rcroute start


My system came with the 8139too driver, but I've replaced it with D.
Becker's latest rtl8139 driver. Unfortunately, that didn't change the
behaviour of my system at all. I can now use mii-diag, but that claims
everything is fine with the card (even when after dropping the connection).

Just in case you think it's cabling, (but I can't see how the ifconfig thing
would do anything about that). The system is connected with a cable to a
minihub, which also has another (Sun) system. From there it goes to the main
hub. While my Linux system's connection is down, the Sun still works happily
on.

One system manager claims it has something to do with the Linux
configuration. Another system manager claims it has something to do with the
network server configuration (router, NIS, DNS, all that). (Guess who's
who).

Any clues?

Thanks a lot




Kris Thielemans
(kris.thielemans <at> ic.ac.uk)
Imaging Research Solutions Ltd
Cyclotron Building
Hammersmith Hospital
Du Cane Road
London W12 ONN, United Kingdom